As an avid cyclist and a member of my local YMCA, I see a lot that impresses me: cyclists that blaze down the bike path in the stifling heat and humidity, runners with unstoppable endurance and weight lifters that can bench press twice my weight with ease. When I see these athletes in action, I feel motivated to step up my “game” by pushing myself a little harder and farther. No, I’m not in a competition with them, but I’m competitive with myself.

As much as these athletes impress me, there are others in these same places that amaze me even more. These are people with physical challenges who, despite their challenges, show up every day with a workman-like attitude. When I see them, it’s not their athletic ability that impresses me…it’s their courage.

At the Y, I see an Asian woman in her 60’s who has suffered a stroke. She uses a cane to walk (slowly and deliberately) and then she carefully gets onto the rowing machine for an hour’s worth of rowing. There’s nothing impressive about her rowing…it’s not particularly fast. What impresses me the most is her courage to show up and get onto the rowing machine despite the difficulty and struggle to to so.

On the bike path, I pass a woman – in her 70s (I presume) walking at a slow pace. She’s thin and somewhat frail-looking and her gait is not a natural one. Sometimes she has others walking alongside her. But what impresses me is her consistency to show up. Every Sunday when I’m out there on the trail, she’s out there too. Again, there’s nothing impressive about the way she walks. However, the fact that she’s out there every Sunday blows me away. When I see her, I smile and feel blessed by her presence.

In our day-to-day lives, there are a likely a lot of people who catch our attention – people with natural gifts, talents and plenty of charisma. But I’m learning that the real heroes are the people who aren’t perfect in their activities, work and appearance…they are ones taking imperfect, courageous and consistent action.
What action or activity, however imperfect, are you putting off?

In the previous post, we examined the top ten commencement addresses of 2011 as determined by The Huffington Post. Overall, it was a pretty good list with a wide variety and selection of speakers.

But one great speech was left out, most likely because the speech occurred after The Huffington Post published their list. This year, my favorite commencement address was delivered by Stephen Colbert to Northwestern University on June 17.

Why was it my favorite? Simply because Colbert’s speech was the perfect combination of humor and words of wisdom. And it didn’t hurt that I really agree with the tips he shared from his improv days at Second City and his thoughts about service.

I’ll be the first one to admit that my feelings about Colbert change quite often when watching his program, The Colbert Report. There are many days I will laugh hysterically and other days when I’m just not in the mood to watch at all. But one thing I strongly admire about Colbert is his ability to write funny jokes about serious topics…and he does that here in the commencement address to Northwestern University.

Here are a few key thoughts:

On following our dreams…”dreams can change…if we’d all stick with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses. So whatever your dream is right now, if you don’t achieve it, you haven’t failed..and your not some loser.”

On service…”service is love made visible…try to love others and serve others – and hopefully find those who’ll love and serve you in return.”

On improvisation…”you are not the most important person in the scene, everybody else is.” He also went on to say, “you cannot win improv – and life is like an improvisation. You have no idea what’s going to happen next and you are mostly just yanking ideas out of your ass as you go along. And like improv, you cannot win your life – even when it might look like your winning.”

Do yourself a favor…check out Colbert’s speech…and let me know what you think.

If you’ve read this blog since the Blogger days, you know that I’m a big fan of the commencement address. I enjoy them for their motivational, aspirational qualities and the feeling of major accomplishment I feel for the graduates. I also remember how triumphant I felt at my own graduation.

But I don’t think I started to appreciate these speeches until I attended graduation ceremonies from my friends. In one case, I remember a graduate in her 80’s being recognized for the completion of her Bachelor’s Degree…she received a huge ovation and local television camera crews moved in to capture the moment to be shared with the community. I couldn’t help feeling a sense of admiration and inspiration from her accomplishment.

In early June, The Huffington Post shared their Best Commencement Speeches of 2011. I recently took the time to view these speeches in their entirety and wanted to share with you some great thoughts and moments. Watching each of these, I could not help feeling admiration and inspiration once again.

Initial thoughts

One look at the names of the top commencement speakers and you’ll notice that it’s an all-star list of celebrities and dignitaries: Tom Hanks, President Obama, Michelle Obama, Denzel Washington, Amy Poehler and John Legend. My first thought is that these speakers are going to immediately grab the attention of graduates, parents and faculty. And each of these speakers, in their own way, does that.

In her address to graduates at Harvard, Amy Poehler asks the audience to “lend me your beers.” Arrianna Huffington flatters graduates at Sarah Lawrence College by saying simply, “you look amazing.” These opening remarks don’t just grab the audience’s attention, they also set up the important parts of the speech that come later.

In terms of delivery, each speaker delivered their speeches with a style that was dependent on the audience and the speaker’s personality. Performers such as Tom Hanks and Amy Poehler delivered in a loose, polished manner and provided a good amount of humor. Denzel Washington, was less polished and even acknowledged that he was a bit uncomfortable giving his speech. President and Michelle Obama, in separate speeches, spent considerable time praising dignitaries and evoking a sense of history and tradition. John Legend spoke with the more serious tone of an experienced big brother. Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg’s address felt much like a pep-talk to the all-girl Barnard College.

And though their styles differed, each speaker delivered strong, encouraging thought-provoking messages. Amy Poehler invited her graduates to apply improv rules to their careers: listen, say yes, live in the moment and make choices early and often. She also invited grads to “try putting your iPhones down once in a while and look into people’s faces…this will tell you many things.”

Sheryl Sandberg stressed that “fortune favors the bold” and asked “what would you do if you were unafraid?”

Denzel Washington spoke about the positive aspects of failure and says that we need to “fall forward.” In other words, when we fail (or fall), we need to get up again and keep moving. He added, “every graduate here has the training to succeed. But do you have the guts to fail?”

“There is no passion to be found in playing small and settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.” Nelson Mandella quote shared by Denzell Washington

Tom Hanks focused on how powerful fear is in this day and age. At one point he asked graduates, “Fear or Faith, which will be our master?”

Arianna Huffington spoke about the graduates’ “connected world” and told them, “your generation is on this pilgrimage to transform a world that desperately needs transforming.” She also encouraged graduates to have empathy, wisdom and fearlessness and stressed that “the difference between success and failure is perseverance.”

Ronan Farrow, an attendee of Bard College at Simon’s Rock at age 11, told graduates to remain curious and to be impatient saying, “the people making a difference are the ones who refused to wait.”

John Legend kept his speech short and concluded with an uplifting performance of “Wake Up Everybody.”

Final Thoughts

As you can tell, a great deal of wisdom and magical moments were captured throughout these commencement addresses. I highly recommend that you check them out. They are a reminder that there is no single or right answer when it comes to success or a life well-lived. But one thing is certain, our country, our world, is counting on the leadership of these young adults.

How about you: what is your favorite commencement address in the past few years?

This is another post in a series of best-of posts from this blog on Blogger and was published originally in June of 2009. While time has passed since then, we are still needed more than ever…

A few weeks ago I went to a small, local storefront theater in my neighborhood and saw a play. For more than a year, I have passed this theater on my way to work and had been meaning to check out a show there. Personally, one of my favorite things about living in Chicago is the small storefront theaters. Yes, Wicked and Jersey Boys will attract many more tourists into the city, but my heart is with the small theaters. I’ve had many memorable experiences seeing small productions of some great plays. Ironically enough, I can even remember seeing Camus’ The Stranger in a small church not far from Wrigley Field.

The theater in my neighborhood had two rows of seats, approximately 30 total, and wasn’t more than twenty feet from the front of the stage. Unfortunately the turnout was sparse and there were only about eight of us. Before the show, I spoke with a woman selling tickets at the door and she indicated that the theater was doing fairly well, but the last two productions had been less successful. Perhaps this is due to the specific productions, but more than likely it is due to the economy.

My conversation with the woman at the door made me realize something important: we are all needed now, more than ever. If there is something you care about deeply, whether it be your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, a nearby church, the independent record store you love to visit, or that charity that you feel passionate about, your support is more important than ever.

In many cases, funding from the government is drying up. The public radio station in Chicago, WBEZ, has changed its pledge strategy. In the past it would ask listeners to pledge a dollar a day or $365 for the year. Today, it asks for $20 and indicates that if everyone could pledge that amount they would be in good shape.

Now more than ever, our support is needed.

While much of this support involves money, there are plenty of things we can do to support the organizations and causes that we feel strongly about. This includes:

Volunteering your time – perhaps you can lend a hand at a special event such as a fundraiser

Volunteering your service – do you have skills (e.g. sales, money management, leadership) that can help?

Your presence – money usually speaks the loudest, but sometimes your mere presence is a vote of support for the organization/cause you care about

Personally speaking, I feel the desire and need to volunteer and help. Â Maybe it’s volunteering my time at my local storefront theater or a food pantry.Â Maybe it’s $20 to my local NPR station.Â Wherever this may be, I know that my service (or money) will be appreciated.

How about you…what places, groups and organizations do you feel passionate about? How can you help?

I recently finished Steven Pressfield’s “War of Art.” As many of you already know, this book has been highly regarded and recommended to read by creative individuals across the land. But I never got around to reading it – until recently. I found that this book lived up to all the positive buzz that I’d been hearing and reading about. Whether you’re an artist, writer, dancer, entrepreneur or whatever, I would highly recommend you read it.

I especially enjoyed Pressfield’s section about turning pro – which means that whatever artistic endeavor we pursue, we turn pro when we really commit ourselves to that endeavor. It means that we take our endeavor seriously and that we’re not just dabbling or exploring.

It also got me thinking about how we, many times in life, create our own luck. Chances are, if we love doing something, we keep doing it. We practice. We get better.

Early in my college days I had an assignment in a creative writing class. I had to write a short story that was 8 to 10 pages in length. The weekend before it was due, I had the worst case of writer’s block in my life. I took walks, talked to friends, prayed, meditated, had a few beers. Still, I had no idea what to write about. I was driving myself crazy.

Looking back I realize I never really put the work or commitment needed to get through that evil case of writer’s block. I realize today, thanks to Julia Cameron and her Morning Pages, that I’m capable of writing at times when my mind isn’t ready or filled with ideas. I understand that all my practice – whether it be a journal entry, an email, a rough draft – prepares me when it’s time for me to write something important. In other words, I’m putting my time in. I’m practicing and committed to improvement.

Ultimately, this “turning pro” helps us to create our own luck. It’s not a coincidence, after all of our commitment and time spent perfecting our craft, that we’re more likely to experience success than if we were to just continue dabbling and exploring.

So how about you…in what ways, what areas of your life are you committing yourself to your craft?

I’m not going to lie, these are tough times. I’m dealing with a few things on the home front that really make it hard for me to remember my word for the year, which is “laughter.” I’m not sure I’m ready to address these here on my blog at this time, but perhaps I will in the future. But I know that I’m not the only one going through a few tough times…everywhere I turn, good friends are dealing with some incredible challenges in their lives. Sometimes these challenges can seem overwhelming and scary. Sometimes these challenges never seem like they’ll go away.

Today, while I was grabbing a coffee and listening to my MP3 player, I stumbled upon this song by P.O.D. Sometimes a song hits you with an incredible force and today that was the case with me and this song. There really is no video for it that I’m aware of, but feel free to give this song a listen – the lyrics are pretty amazing. And if you’re going through tough times, all I can say is hang in there.